2009 Achievements
170 of 1000 5 of 24 Achievements
	I can quit anytime Give up caffeine for 40 days.	40 Acquired 02/21/2009

So…I actaully finished this achievement a few weeks ago, but never got around to posting about it. I’m also very happy to announce that I am very much back to drinking caffeine. The real big deal with this was to get rid of the headaches and to get rid of the dependence on it.

Here’s what I figured out.

The caffeine itself (or lack thereof) wasn’t giving me the headaches. It was Diet Sodas. Seriously. When I went without caffeine for awhile, and then had a Diet Coke/Pepsi/Dr. Pepper, I would instantly get a headache and then have another the next day to get off of it. But drinking a random cup of coffee or regular DP…no problem. This leads to an obvious dilema of the over-abundance of sugar and calories in a a tasty sody pop just to not have headaches. Which, by the way, is an even bigger conundrum considering that over a third of my achievements have to do with losing weight. But alas, goals are goals for a reason, and without a little resistance how would we learn anything, right?

So, I’m down to coffee, green tea, and an occasional Dr. Pepper. I may get desparate toward the end of the year and cut those off too. For now, I’m back to doing my part of stimulating the economies of Latin American villages. You’re welcome.

This posting is coming from the good land of Colorado. At the moment, I’m sitting in a coffee shop, sipping a white mocha, blogging on my phone, and most importantly not working. Best Monday Ever. When the in laws ask if you want to go skiing with them it doesn’t make much sense to turn them down. Fortunately I finished my ‘no caffeine in 40 days’ achievement just before we left. Hence the white mocha.

As for the other achievements, I’m not sure if vacation is hurting or helping. I’m not sure how well skiing helps training for a marathon. It certainly helps for workout/losing weight purposes. Then again, bacon and eggs for breakfast and eating out for dinner nearly every day probably cancels that right out.

I’m gonna go ahead and say that a vacation is worth it. I’m reading my 3rd book of the year (of the 12 on my list), and my knees are enjoying the break from running. I’ll have to check the scale when we get home this week to survey the damage. For now…time to relax and remember that rest is required for a reason.

Wow…40 days actually goes by kind of quick once you get into the habit of doing something. 

2009 Achievements
130 of 1000 4 of 24 Achievements
	No Dentures Here Floss for 40 straight days.	40 Acquired 02/09/2009

I’m very excited to be done with this achievement.  Ironically enough though, I now find it hard to stop flossing. I guess that was the point though.  Okay, on to the next one.

Well after the first full month of 2009, I’ve unlocked my first real achievement…I lost 5 pounds. 

2009 Achievements
90 of 1000 3 of 24 Achievements
	Half Way There Weigh 205 pounds – 20 pounds total weight loss.	40 Acquired 02/01/2009

I’ve also consistently weighed in at this for the past week on different scales, with different clothes, and at different times of the day (just to make sure I’m not cheating the system and all).  I think a good portion of achieving this milestone is because of livestrong.com.  And more specifically their Daily Plate.  It’s basically an online food diary, but what is very handy is that members of the site have already added nutrition info for most everything I eat.  Even Honey Roasted BBQ sauce from Chick-fil-a (which, if I were honest, is really the main reason that I go).  And now that I know that each little packet is 60 calories and 6 grams of fat, I think it may be time to cut back from eating 6 packets at a time with my nuggets and waffle fries.

Another handy feature is that it shows you what percentage of carbs/protein/fat your getting from each food you eat and a total for the day.  I was horribly surprised the first few days I did this.  Getting as many calories from protein as carbs and fat is significantly harder than one might imagine.  

I also have to say that the next milestone…breaking the 200 lb barrier…has been a long time coming.  I will be very excited to post that achievement.

I’m not gonna lie to you.  I hate flossing.  

So, why would I force myself to floss for 40 straight days? Because I hate it. 

And, unfortunately, every dentist I’ve had for the last 10 years, does not hate it.  I’ve never been one to get cavities.  I just don’t didn’t (ok, this one trip was really bad).  Although, I do have issues with my gums. Pretty much every time I’ve gone to the dentist they tell me that I’m “showing signs of gingivitis”. Then I would feel bad, and start flossing much in the same way that I would suddenly start having quiet times the week after summer youth camp….and much like youth camp, I quit flossing within a couple of weeks.  But hey, I was only “showing signs”…that’s good, right?

Well, the last time I went, they straight up told me I have gingivitis.  Ugh.  That just sounds bad. So, I of course asked what they could do, or what I could do.  And their answer?  Floss.  And furthermore, floss.   And in case I didn’t hear the first time.  Floss.  I was re-motivated.  This time I managed to keep it up for 2 and a half weeks before deciding that 2 extra minutes of sleep would serve me better than sticking a piece of string in my mouth 26 times in a row. 

So thus, in an effort to save myself from dentures at some point in my life, I’m flossing.  And I still hate it.  I haven’t yet reached the point of seeing the benefits to the point that I want to floss.  But, alas, that is why we do most of the things we do.  Because we must.

These little guys are my new best friends.

Most people that have seen the list will pick one or two that strike them for whatever reason and comment on it. For most people it’s I Can Quit Anytime, or no caffeine for 40 days. The usual response is a sigh followed by a “there’s no way I could do that” ( you know who you are (Mark Glover)). At work, it’s more of a question of “why would you do that?”

And the main reason?…headaches. I get headaches so often from drinking caffeine, or sometimes, just not drinking enough caffeine. Even sleeping in on the weekend will keep me from getting my fix in those first few precious hours of the day, which by the afternoon equals headache. Which is really lame.

I'll miss you dear friends

So… at the start of the year, I dropped the diet coke (aka, the silver bullet) cold turkey and upped my coffee to three cups a day. That gradually dropped to two, and then one and a half. Then I switched to hot chocolate.

Best decision ever.

I still got a bit of caffeine, and let’s face it, hot chocolate is so good, I wasn’t thinking about cravings. Finally, the other day, I switched to mint tea (the kind that’s just herbal so it’s caffeine free). So far, other than peer pressure (again, mostly from confused co-workers), it’s going fine. I’ve had to supplement with a couple of advil this week, but none so far today.

Now my only issue…I am freakin’ tired.

So here’s the deal.

I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. I am, however, a list/chart/graph maker and I constantly have a list of goals that I’m working on, so I never felt the need to make resolutions. And we all know the statistics that most people don’t keep them. But this year something was stirred up in me. And it’s all thanks to my Xbox 360.

For those of you who don’t play, Xbox and Microsoft have come up with a little something they like to call achievements to go with every game that comes out. Now instead of just beating the game or getting a high score, you can get Gamer Points for achieving certain tasks or parts of a game. For instance, in LEGO Star Wars (amazing game for Lego and Star Wars fans), you can get 20 Achievement Points for starting a cantina fight with 50 casualties…Brilliant!

Now what can you do with these points? Absolutely nothing. They bring mere bragging rights to your friends, or perhaps evidence that you truly are a world-class gamer. However, for us list-checker-offers in the world, achievements are hard to ignore.  They may not get you anywhere, but man they’re entertaining.

Thus my list…and this blog.

I decided to make my own achievements list. Again, the points are meaningless, and serve no purpose other than to motivate me to a specific goal. Unlike resolutions, where I am resolving to change a characteristic of me, I’ve set milestones that will force me to change those attributes. I’m definitely seeing this as a list for the entire year, and there are items on there that will surely take all year to complete *cough* run a marathon.

I’ll give you more on individual items in time and as they come up.  For now…here’s the list:

2009 Achievements
50 of 1000 2 of 24 Achievements
	Resolved Start a resolutions list.	25 Acquired 12/29/2008
	You’ve Gotta Start Somewhere Maintain a starting weight of 210 lbs or below.	25 Acquired 12/27/2008
	Half Way There Weigh 205 pounds – 20 pounds total weight loss.	40 Locked
	Tenth of a Ton Weigh 200 pounds – 25 pounds total weight loss.	40 Locked
	Break the Barrier Weigh 195 pounds – 30 pounds total weight loss.	40 Locked
	Almost There Weigh 190 pounds – 35 pounds total weight loss.	40 Locked
	Biggest Loser Weigh 185 pounds – 40 pounds total weight loss.	65 Locked
	Brad Pitt Award Maintain a healthy BMI for one month.	100 Locked
	I can quit anytime Give up caffeine for 40 days.	40 Locked
	No Dentures Here Floss for 40 straight days.	40 Locked
	This is gonna hurt tomorrow Do 100 pushups in a row.	25 Locked
	Arnold Award Bench press 200 pounds.	50 Locked
	Fun Run Run in a 5k event.	25 Locked
	Long Run Run in a 10k event.	50 Locked
	Hold My Calls Run a marathon.	100 Locked
	Security Blanket Save previous year’s amount for taxes.	75 Locked
	Pink Slip Pay off car.	50 Locked
	119:11 Memorize a chapter of scripture.	50 Locked
	License to Work Start a job as a project manager.	25 Locked
	Paperback King Read 12 Books.	25 Locked
	Rock Legend Learn a song on electric guitar.	25 Locked
	Handyman Build a workbench for garage.	25 Locked
	Forget Me Not Review this list in December 2009.	20 Locked
50 of 1000 2 of 24 Achievements